Package of support launched to further assist Greater Manchester SME’s

It was reported in the press yesterday (14^th April), that The Greater Manchester LEP has unlocked an initial £3m package of urgently needed financial support for businesses across the region battling the impact of coronavirus.

Administered by GC Business Finance (GCBF), the Greater Manchester Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (GM CBILS) is ready to provide cash injections of between £5,000 and £250,000 to qualifying companies.

The finance is to specifically assist North West companies to access CBILS money when they have initially knocked back by their own bank. The key eligibility criteria is as follows:

• You must have been declined by your bank
• Your business is B2B not B2C (your customers are other businesses not individuals/the public)
• You are based in the North West
• Your application must be for business purposes
• You must be a UK-based SME with annual turnover of up to £45m
• Your business must generate more than 50% of its turnover from trading activity
• Your CBILS-backed facility will primarily be used to support trading in the UK

The funding will bring “vital additional capacity” to existing government initiatives, ensuring that more business in Greater Manchester will have access to the funding they need to meet the challenges presented by the outbreak.

Mayor Andy Burnham said: “This is a fantastic example of Greater Manchester doing the right thing. By acting quickly to unlock vital loan support at a very difficult time, we are playing our part in minimising the economic impact of the coronavirus in our city region.

“We will do everything we can to protect local businesses and safeguard jobs in our vital SME sector.

The team at Cowgills has further investigated the details of the scheme and the application process appears to be relatively straightforward, with only a basic questionnaire to complete and submit initially.

We believe that GCBF are working to a maximum five-day response time so they should be able to signal relatively early on, whether the application for funding is likely to be successful.

If you need any further support on coronavirus and how to unlock the various measures of support, do not hesitate to contact our C19 support team: c19support@cowgills.co.uk